Brad Pricer, human resources process leader at CUNA MutualGroup, said credit unions should explore opportunities most likelyto come from the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act upheldby the U.S. Supreme Court Thursday.

“The most important thing … is what opportunities does thisprovide for them,” Pricer said in reaction to the Supreme Court'shistoric decision.

He said the reform act establishes public and private healthcareexchanges, which will feature a range of insurance planoptions.

“Government exchanges will provide a very limited set of plansthat employers can put before their employees,” said Pricer, who has been helping credit unions and leagues navigatehealthcare reform.

“The private exchanges are going to be much richer. There aregoing to be many more choices for employees or employers,” hesaid.

Pricer said he believes these exchanges will provideopportunities for credit unions to better anticipate theirhealthcare costs.

“(Healthcare) has been a defined benefit approach where(companies) sponsor a plan and the employers' cost increases aretied to how the plan performs over time,” he said. “Now, theexchanges allow a shift to the defined contribution approach – muchlike what happened in the retirement space.”

Employers can decide which exchange to participate in, offeremployees a certain amount of dollars to pay for insurance, andallow employees to select a policy to fit their needs.

“It allows the credit unions – year over year – to betteranticipate what their healthcare offering is going to cost them,”Pricer said. “It allows them to function more effectively.”

Pricer also advised credit unions to meet with their healthcarebroker to make sure they are complying with the reform act'srequirements.

However, these requirements are expected to change if PresidentBarack Obama is not re-elected in November.